Christmas Vacation

Pete, Maya, and I all flew home to Arizona this year for Christmas. I didn't think any of us would enjoy 14 hours in the car this holiday season, so we popped for airline tickets! Thanks to everyone who let us borrow cars and crash at your pads. It was greatly appreciated, and we couldn't have made the trip home without it!

We spent the first couple days chilling at Dad's house. I went to lunch with my old friend, Sarah, and her two babies at the Cheesecake Factory. They need to build one of those here in Albuquerque! So yummy! Afterward, we mosied around Chandler mall for a bit. Here's our picture in front of the Santa Claus area.



On Christmas Eve, we had the traditional party at Dad and Terea's place. We usually do goofy trivia and an auction, but this year they mixed it up a bit and instead we did Survivor: Christmas Island! I was on the green team, and Pete and Maya were on the red team.




We had several challenges, and I whomped the red team on the first challenge! I, along with Autumn, were the puzzle assemblers, and our teammates had to run back and forth getting the puzzle pieces as we assembled the puzzle. We were done before theirs was even halfway assembled. I'm very proud of my mad puzzle skillz. Next, we had a Wheel of Fortune challenge, an air hockey challenge, a scavenger hunt, and a cookie decorating challenge that the kids judged. It was pretty fun. I got voted off about 2/3rd of the way through after being betrayed by my teammate! Watch your back next year, Alicia! Mwahahahaha!! (just kidding ;D) Pete made it pretty far, but was voted off after the scavenger hunt. Angela was the surprise big wiener! Whooda thunk?







We opened white elephant gifts, and the kids opened up their gifts. Maya opened her first present from her Auntie "M". She actually ripped the paper a little and peeked inside. She tried pulling out her new spaghetti monster before it was really unwrapped. What a cutie!



After the festivities, Dan and Autumn gave us a ride up to Prescott in Grammy's van. We woke up on Christmas morning at Mom's house. Maya was cruising around on the floor when I showed her her stocking. She bee-lined straight for it, and started pulling stuff out.






After the stocking fun was over, we drove to Hanna's house where I didn't take any pictures! Oops. Well, Nana and Papa got Maya a box full of cute new outfits, and Pete and I got a nice little stuffed envelope, if you know what I mean. Pete is totally getting his e-reader now! We hung out with all the cousins, and then cruised over to Grammy's house. The usual gang was there minus Erica and Justin with their families. We totally cleaned up at Grammy's! We got lots of treats, and I got a really pretty gold bracelet. It's a little big, but I think I'm going to take it to the jewelery store and have them size it down to fit me perfectly. Maya got a giggly doll that she thinks is just hilarious. It's a bit maniacal with the laughing, but that kinda just makes it more fun!




We stayed at Mom's place along with Melanie and her family. I have to say it was nice to all hang out like that, but I will be crashing at Grammy's next year. I love you, Mom, but your house is small!



We did have some gross fun with the noise putty Santa put in Grampa Ken's stocking, though!



On our last day we drove back to Dad and Terea's. Pete was a handyman and fixed their garage door and garbage disposal, and unclogged their bathroom drain. He's so nice to have around! Maya had fun playing with Grandma T and Tuti.



For dinner we went to Dorothy, Ron, and Mady's place. It was SOOO nice to get a nice, light, home-cooked meal. We were in heaven! Too much fast food and heavy holiday food was making us feel gross. And I am totally putting the tomato feta recipe in our cookbook! Yes, the cookbook is still coming. We were lazy and didn't e-mail them out yet. Oops!





The next morning, bright and early, we flew back to Albuquerque. Maya slept on the plane, which was great because she was in a mood! Poor baby was up coughing that night, and had to wake up at 5am so we could get to the airport on time. She was back to her old self after a nice long nap, though, and her cough went away. We had lots of fun in AZ, but man it's good to be home!

10 Words You Need To Stop Misspelling!

Stolen from Molly:

This 'n That

We're all packed! Well, except for our toothbrushes and deodorant and stuff. We are maxing out Southwest Airlines' luggage allowance. And we didn't even pack enough clothes. I'll be doing some laundry while we're there!

This comic reminded me of me. Well, except without the amazing belly hair.

I just gave a ton of clothes to Ciera because I've lost all hope that they'll fit me again and still be in style. I'm still determined to get that last 5 pounds off, but knowing that we're planning on getting pregnant again in a couple months is a huge deterrent. What's the point, right? Is seems silly to diet during the holidays when it's just going right back on the butt in two months. That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it!

Oh, and check out this amazing website I found. I'm going to have to add it to the links at right. They have a tauntaun sleeping bag! You've all seen Empire Strikes Back, right? When Luke Skywalker is locked out in the arctic cold on some planet, and he light sabers open the tauntaun he's riding and sleeps in its guts for warmth. The inside fabric is even intestines! Haha! They have tons of kids stuff too like the Plush Foodchain Friends and Star Trek onesies. Hilarious!

On a different and much more important note, my friend Sean will be doing a Rock Band marathon for charity. He will be doing an 84-song marathon with NO bathroom breaks. They are playing straight through. Why is this important, you ask? Well, he is asking that anyone who wants to donate to his charity do so at childsplaycharity.org. The charity gives gaming systems (among other things) to children's wards at hospitals all over the country. At the website, you can choose which hospital you'd like to donate to, and it will take you to their Amazon.com wishlist. You can choose any item you'd like to purchase for the hospital, and they will ship it directly to said hospital. You can also just donate money with a secure online Paypal donation. It's a really neat charity, and I'll definitely be sponsoring my friend by giving to the New Mexico Children's Hospital here in Albuquerque.

Merry Christmas everyone! I'll see you in a few days, AZ peeps!

Babysitter

We finally worked up the courage to leave Maya with a babysitter while she's awake. We used to just go out after she fell asleep at 8pm. Anyways, she was really clingy at first, so we put her in her walker, and she got super brave. I didn't sneak out until she was busy playing with the sitter. She did great, and didn't cry until bedtime. She usually does that, though!

Our Holiday Schedule

I did some calling around to find out where we'd be this Christmas, when, and how (yes, how...we're flying in and won't have a car!). We've pretty much got our schedule down except for the Ristig festivities. I was hoping you all could fill me in on what's happening for Christmas in Prescott. Here is our schedule thus far:


Tuesday the 22nd - We fly to Phoenix in at 7:40pm
Spend the night at Dad's house in Phoenix

Wednesday the 23rd - Breakfast with the French's
Hang out with high school friends (yay!)
Spend the night at Dad's house in Phoenix

Thursday the 24th - Christmas Eve party at Dad's house
Hitch a ride with Dan and Autumn to Prescott late evening
Spend the night at Mom's house in Prescott

Friday the 25th - Christmas morning at Mom's!
Christmas at Grammy's in Prescott
Ristig Christmas at the Minkler's?
Spend the night at Mom's house in Prescott

Saturday the 26th - Anyone wanna do lunch?
Karaoke in Prescott with the FamDamily!
Spend the night at Mom's house in Prescott

Sunday the 27th - Mom drives us back to Phoenix
Spend the night at Dad's house in Phoenix

Monday the 28th - Dad drops us off at the airport to catch our 7:55am flight home


I tried to make this a nice long trip since we missed everyone at Thanksgiving. Hopefully, we'll get to spend lots of time with everyone who wants to see us! Please, if you haven't already, don't get us a present. We are bringing one bag of gifts with us, which means we'll only have one bag of stuff to bring back. Thankfully, we're flying Southwest, so we can bring 3 pieces of luggage and 2 baby items for free. Any large or heavy items might get left behind if we can't fit them into our bags! Besides, we really don't need anything. Just being able to see your smiling faces will be gift enough!

Oh, and if you didn't see the Sketchy Santa website yet, you have to check it out! Here's a taste.

"Hi, Dada!"

So, I let Maya stay up a little late because she was in a great mood and it's the weekend. Pete and his friend Travis were in the living room playing the Wii, and Maya and I were sitting on the other couch playing with her phone. She loves it when I ring the phone, and pick it up and start talking to someone. Then, I tell her "It's for you!" I did this same thing, and told her to say "hi." She said hi loud and clear. Pete said he wasn't counting it as her first official word, since she didn't really know what she was saying, and it was was probably an accident. Then, she said it again about 5 seconds later. When I told her to say Hi to Pete, she said hi and waved! I'd been practicing waving during hellos and goodbyes, and she sorta kinda did it, but not really. She kept saying hi and waving and Pete and Travis. Then, I told her to say "hi Dada" and she DID! She'd said Dada and Mama before, but we weren't really sure if they counted as first words because she said them so arbitrarily, and never really addressed either of us specifically. I couldn't believe that she not only said hi and understood what she was saying, but she quite clearly said "hi Dada" perfectly several times while waving at Pete. Two words strung together! My nine month old daughter is a genius.

I'm so giddy I could just giggle! My insides are aflutter.

Of course I got the camera out and tried capturing the moment, but she totally knows what the camera is and got all silent when she heard it turn on. I wish there was a way to silence the stupid thing so I can sneak up on her with a little candid camera. Oh, well. I'm sure she'll say hi to you all when you see her at Christmas. Yay!

All Pete wants for Christmas.....

....is a nook! He's been eyeballing the nook e-reader that Barnes & Noble sells. He checked out a couple of other e-readers, but this is the best, he claims. Unfortunately, they cost $259 dollars. Anyone wanna go halvsies?! Quartersies?

Moooooovies!

Maya turned nine months old this weekend. Today I took a couple videos. Enjoy!

Muppets Bohemian Rhapsody

A Lovely Sunday Afternoon

We didn't have much going on today. I let Pete sleep in until 10am while Maya and I hung out and played in the living room, then we all sat around watching the boob tube and dorking around online. Maya started falling asleep snuggled up to her Daddy.


We got bored, so we decided to go to the mall and just walk around. We got a cheese-on-a-stick and a cherry lemonade, and then Maya and I went on the carousel. It was Maya's first real merry-go-round ride!


We went into the Disney Store where Maya was enamored by the stuffed animals. To Pete's dismay, I just had to get an E.T. picture of Maya with the stuffed animals!


She liked the Wall-E dancing toy, too.



If only they had baby dolls, Maya would have been in her own little utopia. That girl loves her baby dolls! You should see her when we go to Target!

Ciera's Turn!

Lately, I've been picking up Ciera from school three days a week, and she spends the night on Fridays. We put her hair in rollers on Friday night and she was wearing a new shirt I got her, so we decided to take some pretty pictures in the back yard. Here they are!